The dreaded drop
-
Hello all,
So a sister site has contacted me about their drop in traffic, around January they created a page, (and I kid you not), with a title of "Banner Link Exchange", it took me about ten minutes to stop laughing. Around the 16th of July their traffic dropped like a stone (see image).
Obviously I've had them remove the page and we've contacted the sites that they swapped links with, there are 20+). I'm going to give them a week then I'm going to disavow the links. Interestingly the brand keywords are all still at position one, but it's decimated any product and broad search links. I've had them create a blog and they're going to contact the sites they were linking with and write some proper articles. We'll clean up their backlink profile and any site issues they have. It's an ecommerce site so the projected take is down around 40%
My question is are there any indications after fixing as much as possible that the traffic will return, and in what period of time? (i'm seeing conflicting ideas about this)
We can't change the site domain as there's a physical store as well... the domain was first used in 1996...
Cheers
Stew
-
Hi Bruce, thanks for responding again, no we're not running adwords, we have some products that google doesn't like.
I've looked through the sources, it's literally just the google traffic that's died a death, although in general the conversion rate on the traffic is abysmal, circa 1% when my site is more like 3% for very similar products..
-
Hi
Are you running Adwords and Google Products?
Have you switched to the new Google Shopping in Adwords? If so this could be the problem. If you have switched (as everyone has too during August) a significant drop in sales coming from the new shopping campaigns in Adwords might be the source. We have noticed this too and spoken to Google Adwords about it.
Worth checking this out, as this might help? Check GA to see conversions by channel
Bruce
-
Thanks Bruce, I am looking at it from as many angles as possible
It's an ecomms site for a bricks and mortar store, the keywords that are still at number one are all brand keywords that bring up their local result page and their homepage, the 40% drop in revenue is directly from the search channel, everything else is as effective as before. Funnily enough I'd just been nosey and started to track their keywords just before they dropped, you can see the change point...
-
What might be interesting to check out is this: Is this now the genuine real traffic that the site generated and therefore is now realistic?
Often when problems are fixed, what you start to see is the real figures behind the site.
Check GWT and also GA to see if the two are matching trends. Often impression are only that, impressions and what matters is the real bottom line. Those who engaged and purchased might be found to be equal to that of before, although you mention that take is down 40%. Although if keywords are still at No1, then somethiing appears to be not quite right in the numbers.
Without knowing the industry, seasonal flutation can be that dramatic, due to rain, snow, sun etc.
Validate the data from all sources and cross match to get more evidence
Just a few thoughts.
Bruce
-
Thanks Malcolm, I need to talk to our board tomorrow and want to manage their expectations...
-
Thanks both, there wasn't any notice from Google, but i can't see anything more egregious than that page
We're working on a content strategy, fortunately it's a niche market and the store has a good reputation so we can leverage that.
The link exchange did boost the traffic, although it wasn't particularly good in boosting the revenue, i guess it's best endeavours and see what happens!
-
I would suggest you certainly take the steps to have the link removed. Disavowing links would be my next immediate step in this process. I have seen sites recover within 4-6 months and others take up to 12 months.
Malcom
-
How much traffic can return is dependent on how much traffic the link exchange brought in. Your best case scenario for the immediate future would be to get back to around the same levels before they implemented the page...assuming you get all the bad links removed.
Sidenote, sending a few emails and waiting a week may not be enough for google to move on your disavow request, but it's a start.
Good luck,
Ruben
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
DA drop down
Hello, I am the administrator of einricht.com . My site DA drop down 6 to 4. How can I recover the Bad links for increasing DA?
Link Building | | cnibkunpeffob0 -
Wrong page ranking and rank drop, help!
Dear Moz community I would like to hear your advice about our current SEO problems. Our website is www.poolsonline.nl. This is a website where people can learn the Polish language on our website. This website has been online since 2007. The website got really outdated, so we built and launched a new version on March 1st (one month ago). We have created a salespage that we would like to rank for the keywords 'cursus Pools' (Polish course) first of all and 'pools leren' (learn Polish) secondly. The page is https://www.poolsonline.nl/cursus-pools-leren-spreken/ The old website was on rank 4-5 (roughly) for 'cursus Pools' and 'pools leren'. When we launched the new website we were on the top 5 with two of our pages. We were even on rank 1 and our salespage was also showing on the first page and often also in the top 5 (below the 'wrong' page of ours). We got quite a lot of trafic and new clients. However the problem was that the wrong page was ranking higher. We wanted our salespage to rank and not our home page (https://www.poolsonline.nl/) and not our free lesson (https://www.poolsonline.nl/lessen/groeten-en-gesprek-voeren-in-het-pools-les-1/). So what we did: Read/watched recourses about this problem: https://moz.com/blog/wrong-page-ranks-for-keywords-whiteboard-friday and https://moz.com/blog/wrong-page-ranking-in-the-results-6-common-causes-5-solutions and others. Removed the keywords (cursus pools en Pools leren) from the wrong pages (home and free lesson pages). Optimized the Salespage for these keywords Improved internal linking with these key words to our salespage Worked on link building for our salepage. We got about 5-10 links to our salespage in the first week of March (5 seems to be significant for this competition and we are working on more). These links are not yet in Moz OSE, but Google has indexed these pages and links. For reference, here are some of these links (not all): http://www.iculture.nl/apps/ik-spreek-pools-taalcursus-pools-op-iphone/ http://linktopoland.com/nl/cursus-pools-leren-spreken/ http://naukaholenderskiego.pl/artykuly/aplikacje/rozmawiamy-po-niderlandzku-aplikacja-na-iphone-i-ipad/ http://pnkv.nl/nieuwsbericht.php?bericht=rozmowy-po-polsku-juz-po-6-miesiacach http://poolsewoorden.nl/pools-leren/aanmelden/ http://poniderlandzku.nl/ Shared and promoted our salespage on social media What we expected: Our salespage to show up on top for these keywords Our ranking to improve What happened: Our salespage disappeared all together from the search results for these search terms (it does show up for more specific search queries, for example 'cursus pools leren spreken') Our site seems to keep dropping lower and lower. We are now on the bottom of page 1 or on page 2 for 'cursus Pools' and 'Pools leren' and not with the desired page Questions we have for you to help us: Why do you think our salespage is not showing up anymore for these keywords ('cursus pools' and 'pools leren')? Do you think we got a penalty for over optimization or bad links? What can we more to get our salespage to rank for these keywords? (we are working on building/earning more links) What can we do to restore our rankings and not drop lower anymore? Do we need to give our efforts more time? How long? Any other adivce? Thanks so much in advance!
Link Building | | rdudkiewicz0 -
Dropped domains are really helpful for backlinks?
Hi, I'm new link builder and I'm making backlink for my different clients. Just want to increase my knowledge is dropped domains are really helpful or just I'm waiting my time. Other thing is any negative effect on my client website if I create backlinks from dropped domains?. Mean I've submit guest post for my client website on http://wikipathia.com PR 4 and DA 20+ so can I continue my guest post work or leave it? Also I'm sharing some website for guest post. Where I'm interested to submit guest post. http://lookinsidethetower.org
Link Building | | KLLC
http://rouselegal.net/
http://wikipathia.com
http://amy-henderson.com
http://biztbuy.com
http://faaforum.com
http://builderspress.com
http://genista.net/
http://hohumhouse.com/
http://refreshthepage.net
http://redswindow.com
http://valmez.net
http://hangallery.net
http://gridwear.net
http://max4rent.com
http://dodress.net
http://apparel-japan.com/
http://blackroots.net
http://gecoders.com
http://labho.com
http://lokmanhekim.org
http://holddress.com
http://willdress.net/
http://obayoo.com
http://exclamationpoints000casino.com/
http://webdesignlists.com
http://becsta.net
http://dordogneholidayrental.com
http://metalaqua.com/
http://nightsjob.com
http://now2business.co.uk Thanks and waiting for your feedback.0 -
What's Your Most Jaw-Droppingly Spammy Link ( or Promo) Request?
Sheesh. I get them every day. But this one takes the cake. It's from a woman I met once in my life on a long run with my running club. That was two years ago. Now she wants me to endorse her -- even though I know nothing about her professionally. But wait, there's more. She's not much of a runner. As it happens, I know a thing or two about fitness -- having edited a fitness magazine and worked on websites for many top fitness and nutrition pros. The idea of an MSW doing fitness programs for people with medical problems raises all kinds of red flags. She sent this Facebook IM: Hi Daniel - hope all is well! I was wondering if you can share my page with your friends, with the following message (or something similar). Thank you so much in advance! My friend XXXXXX, MSW, has been running XXXX Personal Training for the past 18 years. She specializes in exercise programming for people who have medical problems, everything from heart problems to chronic pain conditions. She works on site in her clients' homes in midtown and downtown XXXXXX. Please contact her if you know anyone who would benefit from her expertise.
Link Building | | DanielFreedman
http://www.facebook.com/pagesXXXX
XXXX Personal Training
We specialize in helping people who are experiencing medical issues incorporate exercise into their treatment plan. We work as a team with all other professionals involved in your care, whether that is your medical doctor, naturopath, physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor, massage therapist, or...
Page: 141 like this [note from SEOmoz staff: we ask that you keep this post TAGFEE and not include specific names, URLs, or phone numbers in your response. Thanks!]2 -
Drop in rankings after gaining new link
Hi everyone I have seen an odd trend in my rankings over the past 6 months that I would like to hear your experiences about. Everytime a get a new link I see an imediate minor drop in rankings only to bounce back to a higher level tah before. Has anyone seen a similar trend in their rankings and what might be causing it? I have made no changes to the site during the link building process.
Link Building | | AndersDK0 -
Drop in Links According to Webmaster Tools
Webmaster tools is telling me the links to my site has dropped by 100,000 links in one month. Can someone please tell me what may have happened?
Link Building | | Professor0 -
What could cause a drop in pagerank
Our home page pagerank dropped from 4 to 3. nlpca(dot)com What are the possible things that could cause this?
Link Building | | BobGW0 -
Ranking dropping for certain keyword
Hi There, Just wondering what has happened to my rankings as I cant seem to understand it. In the past week we've dropped from page 1 to page 10 for a certain keyword. The URL is also different that google displays - instead of displaying the individual page it now just links to the main domain. All the other keywords have remained consistent and some have improved. The page is still in the Google Index if I manually search for it. There hasn't been any dramatic change to the page except I've created a few links to it. Have we been penalized by Google and is there anything I can do?
Link Building | | danielmckay70